Jogo da Morte

I watched this film simply on the recommendation of a dear friend who knows I have a thing for elements of chess in a movie, either as supporting theme or a cameo, or as the centerpiece, if you will.

The script was good, and delivered and filmed well enough, though a bit too simplistic for me and I felt I knew where the story was going too easily. It felt like a diet movie. I wasn't about to gain any mental weight trying to decipher plot twists or subtle character alleys. That's not harsh, it's just how I saw it. Most of my attention was on the analogy of chess pieces to the unfolding plot of teenage girl against the wickedness all about her. In her own family! For the life of me, I spent the better part of the credits going back and forth trying to find the source of the chess "poem," but never got anything definitive other than the script.

And don't think you're going to SEE a lot of strategic chess scenes. You have to listen to the poem interwoven throughout for the saving grace.

I found the cinematography crisp, and enjoyed the opening landscapes with a darker tie-in further into the movie.

The music was good, and per the credits, mostly original too!

"Don't bite the hand that feeds you, understand." Hannah Lee Baker (Breslin) is a teenager who lives with her older sister Amber in her drug addicted Uncle's Donny's house. Her other Uncle Frank (Bean) runs the family business, a drug smuggling ring, with the help of his brother. When Donny's drug use threatens to get Hannah and her sister taken away Hannah comes up with a plan to pay the bills and keep things as they are. She goes to work running drugs for Uncle Frank, but the offer he gives her isn't enough so Hannah finds a way to make a little more money. This action affects the entire family. While this movie is actually much better then I expected I will admit that it is because of the cast. If the cast was not full of big name actors it would be a forgotten about B movie, but as it stands the acting really brings the movie up. Breslin does a great job in this and smoothly handles the transition to a more adult role very well. The movie itself isn't anything that original but it is tense at the right times and keeps you guessing just enough to make it entertaining and watchable. I did enjoy this much more then I expected to. Overall, nothing amazing or new but it is entertaining and worth seeing. I liked it. I give this a B+.

Unfamiliar with the cast, they were all terrific. Really good movie... Finally found one

i'm wondering why people..quite a few actually reviewed the movie and enjoyed it and wound up giving it 4's and 5's. imo its a solid 6 movie. it was totally engrossing to me. Abby Breslin was the main lead and she did a wonderful job...everybody else were good or better. yes...its not believable that a girl would run packages of hillbilly crack for her uncle at only 10 dollars a trip, that was the only unbelievable thing to me. if you are a fan of either...Breslin...Bean or Purefoy, watch this movie, both male leads get plenty of screen time too. hey...its a good watch if one doesn't fall asleep through the movie..i totally enjoyed the movie.

Too often Hollywood tries to make hay from the stupidity of youth. Usually this is a problem for believability, as teenagers aren't really as immature as Hollywood contends, or we'd all be swimming in a world of vandalism and graffiti. The other error Hollywood often makes, indeed, film makers worldwide often make, is to cast older actors for younger roles. Wicked Blood (Bad Blood on my dvd) makes both these mistakes. Don't get me wrong, this is still a high stakes and interesting movie. The lead looks fifteen. What the movie really needed was a girl whom looked 10. Then all the confusion, all the massive bad judgements, all the extreme disregard for consequences, all the fantasy about a new family, and all the quaint references to chess as a game of reality would have made perfect sense. This would have been a far more powerful movie if that had been the case. That's my gripe, and I hope others disagree, because everything else about Wicked Blood is highly professional and entertaining, with great characters, well cast and played. It has an engaging story, not an Oscar for originality, but at least an unusual perspective. The film techniques, soundtrack and wonderful performances make sure it never dips into anything cliche, mundane or boring. This is solid Southern drama with streaks of both violence and conscience, and well worth a look.